These awards were cre­ated by Belfast-based restau­ra­teur Askir Ali to recog­nise the con­tri­bu­tion made to Ire­land’s food scene by hun­dreds of In­dian, Bangladeshi, Pak­istani and other Asian chefs, restau­rant work­ers and man­agers.

UTV’s own Pamela Bal­len­tine over­saw host­ing du­ties for the glamourous event, al­lo­cat­ing awards which cov­ered a wide range of cat­e­gories in­clud­ing Best Chef, Best Restau­rant and Best New­comer, among oth­ers.

Speak­ing on the suc­cess of the event, Founder Askir Ali said: ‘Curry may have been born in In­dia, but it has grown and ma­tured across Ire­land. The Ir­ish Curry Awards are recog­ni­tion of that.’